Food for thought this morning.

On my drive to work this morning I was trying to be silent and let the Lord speak to me.  My mind started rambling, as it tends to do.  Somehow I landed on pre-nups and how one of my friends was asked to sign one.  Then I heard the Lord say to me, "with me there is no need for a pre-nup because I have given you full access to everything that is mine.  All that I have is yours.  Yet, you still hold tightly to things...why?"

Then I read Jeremiah 7.  Verse 11 stood out to me, "Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I myself have seen it, declares the Lord."

I couldn't shake the phrase "den of robbers."  In Matthew 21:13, Mark 11:17, Luke 19:46, Jesus says, "My house shall be a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of robbers."

Then I went here...

Isaiah 56:6-7

“And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord,
    to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord,
    and to be his servants,
everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it,
    and holds fast my covenant—
⁷ these I will bring to my holy mountain,
    and make them joyful in my house of prayer;
their burnt offerings and their sacrifices
    will be accepted on my altar;
for my house shall be called a house of prayer
    for all peoples.”

I took a theology class at church last year and this NT story came up.  It is most likely that Jesus was mad that people were selling things (for sacrifices) because that was of the custom.  But they were selling things at too high of a rate/too harsh exchange rates.  Therefore, those traveling far and wide got the short end of the stick financially so that a few could prosper.  Jesus  got angry over it.

All of this to say, I have been reminded today of how often I want to charge others too much so that I might gain.  I do this with God, too.  The Lord's house is to be a house of prayer.  Our relationship is to be a prayerful one, an engaging one, a relationship constantly in communion.  Yet, I want to take all that I can.  I seek the Lord's hands more than his very presence.  I am selfish.  

So, today I am challenged.  Am I a house of prayer or a den of robbers?